CHICO — About 200 more students will be accepted for the fall semester at Chico State University because the California State University expects to receive an additional $125 million.

“We have been told to admit more students,” said Allan Bee, Chico State’s director of admissions, in a phone interview today.

Officials at the Chico campus intended to keep enrollment for the fall of 2013 at the same level it was in fall of 2012 — 16,400 students, Bee told this newspaper in December.

Things changed in January, when Gov. Jerry Brown proposed a 2013-14 state budget that included an allocation to the CSU that was $125 million higher than the university system received the year before.

Chancellor Timothy White and his staff decided to plan on using $38.9 million of the new money to increase enrollment at the 23 campuses by about 1.2 percent, which would be around 6,000 new students.

On Feb. 27, Chico State was told by the Chancellor’s Office to increase its enrollment by 1.2 percent, said Barbara Fortin, the local campus’ vice-provost for enrollment management services.

After that, Chico State officials began figuring out how many additional letters of acceptance would need to be sent out to enroll 206 more new students.

Fortin said she hoped that within the next week, letters would go out inviting about 600 more applicants to enroll at Chico State.

Of the students who receive acceptance letters from Chico State, about 22 percent enroll at the campus, she said.

It’s good news that enrollment can be increased, Bee said. “We have had so many applications. Now we will be able to accommodate more of them.”

Applications for fall of 2013 at Chico State set a record — there were 26,019. The previous record was set when 22,497 people applied for fall of 2012.

Bee said it was hoped that 4,700 new students would enroll at Chico State next fall. Now that number will jump to 4,906.

“We are trying to rebuild enrollment to where it was in 2008,” Bee said. That fall, it was the highest ever at about 17,000.

It seems possible that enrollment will continue to grow at Chico State because the governor has proposed increasing funding for the CSU over four years.

Brown wants to boost funding by $140 million in 2014-15, $124 million in 2015-16, and $129 million in 2016-17.

To enroll more students, the CSU needs more money, to hire additional instructors and staff who provide services such as advising, food services and many other things.

Like Bee, Katie Simmons, chief executive officer of the Chico Chamber of Commerce, hopes enrollment keeps growing at the local campus.

“I think it’s great,” she said. “Increased enrollment is great for Chico.”

Students spend money at local stores and restaurants, and they give a boost to the housing market, as well.

“We estimate that each enrolled student brings $40,000 a year to our city,” Chico State President Paul Zingg wrote in an email. “That pretty much includes everything: their living expenses, entertainment expenses, a portion of tuition which translates into university spending on local services, spending by their family and friends when visiting, etc. This figure has been pretty constant for several years.”

Of course, the CSU can’t be sure it will receive the extra $125 million the governor wants to provide in the new budget for next year, let alone the additions in the three following years.

In May, Brown will issue a new version of his budget, revised according to how much tax money has been flowing to the state. And then the Legislature must vote to approve the budget before it becomes final. Along the way, the $125 million could be reduced, or even eliminated.

If Chico State gets less than a 1.2 percent increase in state funding, it would have to reduce enrollment for the next spring semester, Bee said.